The big fat Indian wedding now has a brand-new obsession — ‘speciality wheels’. Taking a cue from the Ambani wedding earlier this month, rent-a-car companies are now targeting high-profile weddings and corporate events offering a line-up of vintage, luxury and speciality vehicles like stretch limos and cabriolets. The luxury and vintage rent-a-car business — both self-driven and otherwise — is already a Rs 800 crore business growing at a 30% clip a year. Apart from the usual luxe marques to ferry top management, the demand is now for unique vehicles like a Chrysler stretch limo or a Hillman or an Impala or even a Maybach S 500 or a Jaguar XJ. The idea, said Aditya Loomba, joint MD, Eco-rent-a-car, which was one of the official transport partners for the Ambani pre-wedding function in Udaipur, is to make a statement and demand is coming not only from Delhi-NCR and Mumbai but also event destinations like Jaipur, Udaipur and Jodhpur and non-metros like Jallandhar, Ludhiana, Kochi and Coimbatore.

“This is a big business opportunity and is part of the boom in the sharing economy,” said Loomba. “With maintenance and parking hassles and low resale value, a lot of millennial high net worth customers are going for cars ‘on-demand’. That way you can avail different brands and types of vehicles and it works out cheaper.” For example, a Mercedes Benz S Class costs Rs 1.5 crore but renting it costs Rs 18,000 per day, he added. Apart from big events like weddings or corporate dos, luxury and speciality vehicles are also becoming popular on weekend getaways. “People like to drive a nice car to their destination like an Audi Q7, a Mercedes Benz GLS 400, a BMW 5 Series or a Toyota Fortuner. It’s all about experience and creating memories,” explained Loomba.

The luxury rental business is a fast growing niche in the overall $7 billion commercial mobility market. “The organized segment in this market, in the form of corporate players with nationwide presence, is around 20% which has been growing at an aggregate of about 15% yoy for the last couple of years. Of that pie, the luxury car rental business is around Rs 700-Rs 800 crore per year,” said Sunil Gupta, MD & CEO, Avis India. Corporate demand for organized rent-a-car is driven by bigger towns, added Gupta. “But as contact centers come up in tier 2 towns, corporate business is coming from there as well,” he said. The craze for speciality vehicles, said Loomba, is part of the new appetite for experience management. “People want something new—so they are opting for stretch limos, convertible sports cars and vintage cars. Eco-rent-a-car was one of the ground transportation partners for the Ambani pre-wedding events in Udaipur and there were hundreds of luxury cars running for the guests. Once these arrangements are done, everyone tries to do similar stuff,” he added.

Among vintage vehicles, the marques that are popular include Hillman, Ford (1942), MG, Rolls Royce, Jaguar (1978) and Impala. Among cabriolets it’s the Audi Cabriolet, Mercedes C300 cabriolet, SLK and SLK230 while among luxury vehicles it is the Jaguar XJ and Mercedes Benz S Class that rules. The most popular wedding limo is the Chrysler stretch limo. Eco Rent a Car has witnessed 30% surge in renting out premium cars like Chrysler limousine, Audi, BMW and vintage models during wedding season while Avis India offers cars like Maybach S-350, Maybach S-500 and Mercedes E-class.